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Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

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Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#261
Not convinced by this article.

It looks like the author tries to make a point, cherry picking articles that fit his view.

First, there is no causal relationship, something he mentions "more research is needed to determine if multitasking is physically damaging the brain (versus existing brain damage that predisposes people to multitask)", but dismisses it right after "it's clear that multitasking has negative effects".

It is also interesting how he went from "smaller density" to "damage", which implies some kind of destruction rather than adaptation. Then there is all that part about EQ, which mixes bad behavior (not paying attention), with other forms of multitasking like having plenty of stuff open on your computer. I mean, I can monotask during a meeting by not paying attention at all. Then it connects it to the "brain damage" study by saying that some of EQ-related parts of the brain are also related to multitasking, without showing the whole picture.

The IQ and performance related part is more convincing, but also isn't really tied to the "brain damage" part. It is also a bit confusing as evidenced by a commenter asking "what is multitasking".

That IQ drops when you are doing two things at once is kind of obvious, but it is nice to have a study to back it up. The question is "is it worth it"? And now comes what I think is the only insightful part: media multitasking, basically having more than one thing on your screen(s) makes it harder to switch tasks properly.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#262

My primary school age son, and anecdotally, lots of other kids of similar age, relentlessly multitask in ways that hurts my brain just to think about. He literally is playing a game, watching a YouTube video in another screen, and talking to friends at the same time, and in the most extreme case, is even listening to an audiobook or podcast as well. Asking kids about it, they all say that's just what they do and look…

I bet they're not taking a lot of it in. Youth might convey certain enhanced abilities to switch between tasks efficiently denied to older people, but I'm willing to bet that even at the simple level of "computer game while on a call" sacrifices some of the attention of one of those things.

Related, my kids make grumpy faces when I tell them to turn off "background" Netflix or YouTube while they're doing their homework.

Semi related, my wife's friend came over and it was suggested we watch a film. "Aliens" was chosen as the friend and my wife hadn't seen it before. I put it on, they started chatting. When they started chatting I paused the film. They stopped chatting and asked what was up. I said that you started chatting so I figured you weren't watching the film, and I was actually trying to watch it. They promised to stop chatting. I played the film, they started chatting again after a short pause. We went through the pause/explain/promise cycle again and I played the film. They both promptly fell asleep.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#263
post #262

My primary school age son, and anecdotally, lots of other kids of similar age, relentlessly multitask in ways that hurts my brain just to think about. He literally is playing a game, watching a YouTube video in another screen, and talking to friends at the same time, and in the most extreme case, is even listening to an audiobook or podcast as well. Asking kids about it, they all say that's just what they do and look…

I bet they're not taking a lot of it in. Youth might convey certain enhanced abilities to switch between tasks efficiently denied to older people, but I'm willing to bet that even at the simple level of "computer game while on a call" sacrifices some of the attention of one of those things. Related, my kids make grumpy faces when I tell them to turn off "background" Netflix or YouTube while they're doing their homewo…

I know this is supposed to make them come off as distracted, but it seems like they just weren't so into the movie but you just come off as a bit of a knob.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#264
Software developers are often expected to multitask, a lot, especially now in this new age of agile. This takes the form as multiple meetings per day, email saturation, multiple IM platforms, phone calls, the expectation to know and do everything as a “full stack” developer, context switching, reporting metrics, etc. If you work in multiple projects, all that overhead is just multiplied. This the current reality and I don’t see it changing any time soon because we designed this tyrannical system by which we now live.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#265
post #185

My primary school age son, and anecdotally, lots of other kids of similar age, relentlessly multitask in ways that hurts my brain just to think about. He literally is playing a game, watching a YouTube video in another screen, and talking to friends at the same time, and in the most extreme case, is even listening to an audiobook or podcast as well. Asking kids about it, they all say that's just what they do and look…

I am late 30s and do that. I think it is a learned dysfunction / habit / stimulatory addiction. Just last night my wife asked how I can play a game (Path of Exile) and watch YouTube on my other screen. It was a little hard to explain but I mentioned I tend to watch videos I don't really need to look at (in this case it was just the relaxing tones of LockPickingLawyer) and I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE…

>Putting the speed up to 1.75x or so helps with this if it suits the topic. In fact that was one habit I built during COVID, and going from YouTube videos at 1.75x to voice meetings with slow-talkers back in the office I found myself reaching for a speed button that didn't exist.

I literally listen to nearly all the content I watch on 3x speed, faster if it's not difficult to understand. I have literally found myself reaching for a nonexistent speedup button on a nearly daily basis it's very maladapted.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#266
post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet they're not taking a lot of it in. Youth might convey certain enhanced abilities to switch between tasks efficiently denied to older people, but I'm willing to bet that even at the simple level of "computer game while on a call" sacrifices some of the attention of one of those things. Related, my kids make grumpy faces when I tell them to turn off "background" Netflix or YouTube while they're doing their homewo…

I know this is supposed to make them come off as distracted, but it seems like they just weren't so into the movie but you just come off as a bit of a knob.

It was made as a comment on another comment about "media being put on as background", an activity which I believe my wife's friend buys into. If that wasn't clear then perhaps you could have enquired rather than being so fucking rude.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#267
post #103

I wonder what this says about pair programming, given that writing code and communicating are pretty different tasks, according to imaging: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-brain-code-decipher-n...

Or "talk me through it as you do it" whiteboard interviewing

[deleted]

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#268
post #243
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am late 30s and do that. I think it is a learned dysfunction / habit / stimulatory addiction. Just last night my wife asked how I can play a game (Path of Exile) and watch YouTube on my other screen. It was a little hard to explain but I mentioned I tend to watch videos I don't really need to look at (in this case it was just the relaxing tones of LockPickingLawyer) and I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE…

> flow state This terminology means you are completely focused on the task you're doing, forgetting other distractions. I don't think it applies here.

This. Multitasking certainly prevents you from getting there.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#269
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Again and again, people just refuse to accept that cognitive performance has very clear limits, and that multitasking, skipped breaks and long hours are, at best, a total waste of time These studies are non-ergodic. I work best under long hours; have tried both. The real proof in the pudding is the fact that many of my competitors work "efficient" work weeks and get buried under the onslaught of hours I work. For…

Maybe, but if you're running a company you basically are doing highly leveraged decisions. Making more decisions is not nearly as important as making the right ones - and being overworked is not conducive to that. Getting your sleep, eating well, exercising, seems more important.

I think you might get better results delegating more and reducing your hours. But you have more experience than me in this, so take that with plenty of skepticism.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#270
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multitasking is more like beeing in two meeting simultaneously and taking notes on both, writing a functional specification for a project while talking to your spouse about the weekly shopping list, talking with your coworker about a problem in a codebase while you work in _another_ codebase, trying to fix a production server while watching for cars on the road your kids are playing...

Thanks, that is helpful. I wonder if it can be defined through System 1 and 2 activities. So doing a System 1 task + System 2 task simultaneously would be ok, but not doing System 1 task + another System 1 task.

Yeah the constant context switching is the real culpurit.
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